Not long ago in mid july I purchased 2 Seagate 7200.10 16MB NCQ SATA2 3.5 320GB from DirectCanada, @ somewhere around $51 each - now I check the same drive is sold for $91 !!!! Has it gone up that much ??? Same model, 320GB SATA2, 7200.10... Anybody notice this ?

Yes but what I don't understand is how come I purchased 320GB for almost half, and now it's $91 ?

I've heard that the 500/640 have a high failure rate - mind you, I keep seeing people returning their drives failing, clicking, grinding, etc, not too encouraging - which is why I buy them in pair. For little over $100 I got 2 x 320GB SATA2 16MB NCQ, now for 2 of the same drives, only weeks later, I would pay over $180 !

Yes but what I don't understand is how come I purchased 320GB for almost half, and now it's $91 ?

I've heard that the 500/640 have a high failure rate - mind you, I keep seeing people returning their drives failing, clicking, grinding, etc, not too encouraging - which is why I buy them in pair. For little over $100 I got 2 x 320GB SATA2 16MB NCQ, now for 2 of the same drives, only weeks later, I would pay over $180 !

Anyway, I think the small drives are going up in price because the demand for them is dropping and retailers keep less stock. By simple economics, something in scarce supply will cost more.

Now...in the PC industry we see various anomalies where newer MUCH better hardware costs far less, but sometimes these fluctuations in price can also be attributed to a lower cost of production for the new stuff. The manufacturer and/or retailer may also have decided to run tighter margins in hopes of selling more of the product.

The general trend with both RAM and HDs is the lowering of prices. I remember how just 2 years back you couldn't even find a 4GB kit of DDR2-800. Back then, a half-decent 2GB kit would hit you at $150-200. Today such a kit is just $50.

As for the HDs...there are 1TB drives out there for the price of a 500GB HD just over 1 year ago.

Anyway, I think the small drives are going up in price because the demand for them is dropping and retailers keep less stock. By simple economics, something in scarce supply will cost more.

Now...in the PC industry we see various anomalies where newer MUCH better hardware costs far less, but sometimes these fluctuations in price can also be attributed to a lower cost of production for the new stuff. The manufacturer and/or retailer may also have decided to run tighter margins in hopes of selling more of the product.

The general trend with both RAM and HDs is the lowering of prices. I remember how just 2 years back you couldn't even find a 4GB kit of DDR2-800. Back then, a half-decent 2GB kit would hit you at $150-200. Today such a kit is just $50.

As for the HDs...there are 1TB drives out there for the price of a 500GB HD just over 1 year ago.

You said you use WD, I was talking about the 500/640 Seagate drives. I've spoken to someone local here that runs a shop and says he gets a pile of them every week (seagate 320 & 500) because of failure within 1 to 3 months!
Something is definately up and Seagate is being quiet about it.

Most people blame it on Made In China drive, well that's a load of crap because I've gone through many Maxtors made in China in my older systems, 24/7, and they never failed.

Are you sure you are looking at a .10? CC has the .11 for $72 and $75. (Which is still a far cry from $91... Ouch.)

When the drives begin to fall behind fewer people want to buy them so stock sits on the shelves and that costs the distributors money. They need to make up for that. This is part of the reason why you can still buy 80G but they cost $42 which is terrible $/G. Some make up for it more than others.

__________________He either fears his fate too much, or his deserts are small, that dares not put it to the touch, to gain or lose it all.
- James Graham

Well it's strange because DC's prices were half a few weeks ago on those HDDs, why they have gone up nearly double, must be a mistake - At first I thought that $91 was for the enterprise edition (RE) but when I looked at the part number, it wasn't, it was the regular version lol